La poetica del frammento nel librogame italiano
The Poetics of the Fragment in Italian Gamebooks

Summary/Abstract: This article discusses the tension between textual fragment and narrative unity in the gamebook genre while focusing on Italian texts. After a theoretical and historical introduction about gamebooks, we analyze significant examples like Il presidente del consiglio… sei tu! (You Are the Prime Minister!), where the multiplicity of reading paths functions as a metaphor for political opportunism, and Due delitti per un computer (Two Murders for a Computer), whose reading options are fully mapped for the reader beforehand. We then talk about branching comics, a genre pioneered by Italians, where the clear demarcations of the panels further increase the impression of a fragmentary storyworld. L’uomo Scottecs e l’ultimo giorno del mondo (Scottecs Man and the Last Day of the World) by Sio and Analwizards by David and William Genchi showcase very experimental uses of the visual fragment, while the series Grafomante, which includes blank spaces that the reader is expected to fill in with drawings, presents a case where visual fragments are reconciled and connected during the reading process.

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